Reading week was fairly uneventful. I studied, watched Netflix, ate, slept. Repeat. Super exciting, right?
I went into town to pick up a few things, mail Seamus' surprise, and top up my phone and saw a few more Christmas decorations up. This trip is the only time so far my "stranger danger" radar went off in York. A man completely drunk around 2pm was wandering around the Spurriergate area talking to/following various people. He started following me for awhile and trying to talk to me. I completely ignored him and after a few minutes he lost interest and started following someone else.
I had pizza at the Ron Cooke Hub with Debbie and another girl from her flat, Kayleigh. The pepperoni pizza was really good. Weirdly, the English seem to put a lot of sweetcorn on their pizza. Don't believe me? Check out the Domino's UK menu: https://www.dominos.co.uk/menu
After that, I came home and did laundry. While I was waiting for my dryer load, two guys came in, loaded their washers and started them. Shortly after starting the washer the one on the left starting moaning swear words and staring into the washer. I'm not entirely sure what he did, but apparently he'd done it before because amongst his colorful vocabulary was, "Not again. I can't do two washes AGAIN." I honestly did not realize laundry was as difficult as I've witnessed over the last 8 weeks. Perhaps because my parents started having us help with laundry around age 7.
Laundry: the struggle is real.
Despite my other Amazon/Gesa frustrations, my clothes hangers came so I could finally hang up my clothes!
On Wednesday, Debbie, Kayleigh, and I went to the Russell Group Postgraduate Roadshow to check out what the other universities in the Russell Group had to offer in PhDs and PGDip/PGCert. Then, we walked over to the shops on Badger Hill to stop by the little bakery. They have quite a few options. The picture is a "vanilla slice" which is basically and vanilla custard between pastry. It was okay. Wednesday was also Bonfire Night, but no pics of that. Sorry. There were lots of fireworks going off for the next several days.
The highlights (sarcasm) of Thursday and Friday were going back and forth between Gesa and Amazon UK to find out why my order kept getting declined. On Friday, I FINALLY got my debit card from HSBC so I tried to order groceries. It didn't work. Over and over and over. I was seriously irritated at this point. I just wanted ONE online order to work right!! My ward had their own bonfire that evening with "jacket" (baked) potatoes, but I was in a very grumpy mood and not fit company.
On Saturday, Lara and I got up bright and early to get on a train to London to see the Tower Poppies.
We arrived in King's Cross about 10:30am, then headed over to the Underground station where we queued to get an Oyster card for at least 30 minutes. It was BUSY. We traveled via the Circle Line directly to a stop near the Tower, but not the Tower stop because of the congestion.
We queued on on side of the street to get to the place where we could cross the street.
Then we crossed the street.
And joined the queue on the other side.
It was a huge mass of people waiting to see the poppies. We inched slowly forward as people left the wall and someone stepped into their place.
You all know how fond I am of small spaces and people touching me, right? Yeah. It was a long hour waiting, made even more lovely by the woman next to us who had to complain about everything. At length. People should only get thirty seconds and then move on, that guy is using three different lenses on his camera, why would you even bring a camera when there are already so many professional pictures online, she didn't even want a picture she just wanted to see them, that woman is on her FIFTH selfie, who really needs to take a selfie with POPPIES for crying out loud, they really should have organized the queuing better this is atrocious...... You get the picture. I was SO ready to turn around, be the rude American, and tell her to SHUT. UP. But, I didn't. Barely.
Absolutely gorgeous! There are 888,246 poppies. Each one to represent a British military fatality in World War I.
After I was done looking at and taking pictures of the poppies, I told Lara we should take a selfie just to irritate our vocal neighbor (we made it to the wall before her).
They estimate over 4 million people from all over the world came to see the exhibit.
Lara and I decided to walk for awhile before we got lunch because anything next to the Tower was bound to be packed.
So we walked to the Tower Bridge to cross the Thames.
The poppies went all around the Tower grounds.
This is on our way to the Tower Bridge stairs.
This was from the Tower Bridge. I had to climb up on a little step and hang on with one hand to get a picture.
We stopped at Balls Brothers of London in a shopping area. I had the beer battered haddock and chips, which is (of course) served with mushy peas. Mushy peas is a dish I have not been able to embrace.
After lunch we found the closest tube station for an express tour of London, starting with Buckingham Palace.
This is a restaurant directly across from Victoria Station.
Next time I get down to London, this is a necessity.
It wasn't nearly as crowded here as I had expected with all the people in town for Remembrance weekend.
Several police officers on motorcycles came to stop traffic. So, of course all the tourists rushed over to see what was happening.
I'm not sure what these were for or where they were going, but it was fun to watch all the same.
Right as we decided to head over to Westminster another group of officers on motorcycles and horses stopped a lane of traffic
There was a long line of carriages, each with a sign saying "Lord Mayor's Show".
Big Ben and the London Eye
On the grounds of Westminster, there was another Remembrance display recognizing soldiers who died in all wars and conflicts.
We walked across the street to have a closer look at Parliament
Then we decided to make it back to King's Cross in time for the 5pm train back to York. My right foot was so painful at this point. Hopefully my new shoes and my doctor's appointment this week will bring some relief.
Churches here do a special Remembrance Sunday service. York 2 and York 1 combined their sacrament meetings to do a special service . . . which unfortunately I missed because of the migraine I woke up with.
I FINALLY have a hair dryer and straightener. It's been so nice!
And pans!
My usual sandwich was upgraded to a grilled cheese, since my grocery order wasn't being delivered until the next morning. I now have LOTS of food, including large bags of pasta, rice, and several dry goods that should last me awhile.
On Tuesday, I came directly home from the FGS lecture on Staff Training and made tortellini soup in celebration of finally being able to cook properly.
I slipped in a little chocolate with my order. The whole "mansize" thing is not just for tissues. Although, I found the label "mansize" on chocolate a bit ironic.
On Wednesday, I had to go to the LCI lecture on children in the court system which was rescheduled because of the guest speaker's availability and then I went to the Lord Mayor's Welcome Reception for international students. When we arrived the organizers had us sign in and when I said my name the woman said, "Oh! Thank you so much for writing the blurb for the press release. That will go out tomorrow." When we received the initial email asking if we wanted to come, it also asked if we could confirm our attendance and write a few sentences on why we chose York and how we felt about coming to the reception. So apparently mine was chosen to be part of the press release.
The Lord Mayor's Mansion House is very cool. It was built between 1725 and 1732 and is still the official residence of the Lord Mayor during his term of office. We started in the state room with the usual tea, coffee, juice, and biscuits where the Lord Mayor and his deputy welcomed us. There are about 4000 international students at the four institutions of higher education in York, and about 30 of those students attended the reception. University of York has students from 132 countries. He didn't say how many countries York St. John's students come from. There is also an agricultural college and another college that I hadn't heard of before. York's economy used to run entirely on trains and chocolate, but now includes a lot of tourism. 18% of York's tourists are from the United States.
After the welcome we toured the house, which mostly consists of the state room, the blue room (which wasn't open), the yellow room, and the dining room.
In the dining room, one of the staff members showed us the official sword and mace of the city. The sword originally belonged to this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigismund,_Holy_Roman_Emperor
who belonged to the same order as Vlad the Impaler. We weren't allowed to take pictures because of "insurance reasons," so you'll just have to imagine a priceless sword made in the 1400s. The mace is gold plated silver and is quite heavy. It has a crown on top of the ball which was taken off during Cromwell's rule, and put back on after. As the man put it, "It was merely an attempt to keep heads attached to shoulders."
They had a sample menu and table set up for us to see.
The yellow room.
Queen Elizabeth signed the visitor's book when she came to bestow the third cap of maintenance.
The state room. It was gorgeous.
The chandeliers were really cool. If I'd had a better camera, you'd be able to see the dragon heads worked into the arms that hold the lights.
These are the original chains of office, which are several centuries old. Both the Lord Mayor and his wife wear the current chains of office when on official business. The Sheriff and his wife have a different style of chain. I chatted for awhile with the Lord Mayor's deputy, who is from Stratford. He visits San Francisco regularly and is going back next summer. He plans to land in Portland and drive down to Ashland because the idea of such a renowned Shakespeare festival so far from where Shakespeare was born intrigues him.
On Thursday, I got my hair cut at a salon that I found when we visited the bakery in Badger Hill. I warned the stylist that I was nervous about letting a new person touch my fine, curly hair. She asked a lot of questions and generally passed my test. Plus they only charge 18.25 for a cut and blow dry vs. 40.00 like some salons in the city. That afternoon I had an interview for a Student Ambassador job. The interview was a group format with five other post grad students. One girl (a PhD student) was wearing a skirt so short I could tell her pantyhose were control top! I should hear back sometime this week.
Friday was mostly spent on my FGS briefing paper and my dissertation's ethics committee application which are both due December 1st. My LCI essay is due January 5th and my statistics class exam is on January 10th, a SATURDAY, at 9am. Because statistics isn't bad enough already . . . My classmates are planning a celebration directly after.
I took a couple of screen shots of the temperature difference :)
Nestle makes Yorkie candy bars. It's pretty good.
Yesterday I went into town to get some things from the pharmacy. This is the view from the bus stop outside the Ron Cooke Hub. At Boots I found a generic brand of eyedrops I'm not allergic to! And a name brand kind that I am allergic to. So, for those of you who understand the struggle I have with such things, you understand my excitement. :)
It might be dangerous having such a good patisserie on the way to the pharmacy and my phone carrier's store . . . . YUM. I needed to break a 20 pound note, so I had a slice of Mille Fueille.
Out of order, but on November 2nd I Skyped with Seamus (as Rocket), Kaylee (as Princess Sophia), and Bria (as Princess Leia).
I also Skyped with the family in Washington.
Yup. Those are my siblings.
Some random things:
-One always thanks the bus driver with "Thank you," "Thanks," "Cheers," or "Ta". I haven't been able to use "ta" yet. It feels a bit fake.
-Generally, you don't talk to strangers on public transport except to ask them to move so you can get off the bus. So, to my surprise a older woman sat next to me and started detailing all her aches and pains and talking about how people are mean to her on the bus. She didn't seem to need much response from me other than sympathetic noises and tutting, which was good because I was a bit shocked at first.
If you don't hear much from me before December 1st, don't worry. I'm probably fine. Just buried in end of term work . . . .
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